Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery
"Some 500 crimes of human trafficking were exposed in Belarus in the first nine months of this year, including more than 160 cases when the victims were taken abroad. "http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Belarus.htm.

30-year-old charged with trafficking teen runaway in Central Texas
"A 30-year-old man was arrested Wednesday during a traffic stop in New Braunfels who police said was trafficking a juvenile for prostitution across multiple states.
Roderick Tasby faces a first-degree felony charge of trafficking of persons, a third-degree felony charge of tampering with evidence, and Class B misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and failure to identify. "http://www.mysanantonio.com, January 27, 2017.

Violent Backpage.com pimp Leon Brown guilty of sex trafficking
"Leon Brown, 41, was convicted of three counts of sex trafficking, two counts of promoting prostitution and a single count of criminal contempt in a jury verdict Tuesday afternoon after a week-long trial in Manhattan Supreme Court."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, August 27, 2013.

38 Jailed in Human Trafficking Undercover Operation
"Law enforcement officers across Southern California worked together last week to target people who purchase people for sex in an investigation dubbed "Operation Reclaim and Rebuild.""http://www.nbcsandiego.com, January 31, 2017.

Warrant: Central Texas man forced teen into sex, threatened to 'kill her family'
"James Aaron Lenox, of Del Valle, was charged with a first-degree felony of trafficking a child to engage in sexual conduct. His bond has been set at $1 million.
Prior to his Monday arrest, Lenox was arrested in Comal County in early January for possession of child pornography, possession of marijuana and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence."San Antonio Express-News, February 7, 2017.

Mother accused of 'gifting' 14-year-old daughter to Pennsylvania man denied bail request
" Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, and her husband are charged with child endangerment for their involvement with 51-year-old Lee Kaplan, whose home in Feasterville was investigated by police last week.
Authorities say Daniel Stoltzfus told them he and his wife gave their then-14-year-old daughter to Kaplan because he had given them money."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, June 25, 2016.

NYC couple charged with running prostitution ring in N.J. motels
" Benson Chin got 21 months in prison, while his wife, Hong Ping He, 46, was put away for seven months.
The couple had pleaded guilty last October in Manhattan federal court to transporting two undocumented Chinese women across state lines from Flushing, Queens to Neptune, N.J. to work as prostitutes, prosecutors said."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, June 30, 2016.

Roughly 3,000 women and girls are sold on ISIS sex slave market using Telegram, WhatsApp
"The advertisement on the Telegram app is as chilling as it is incongruous: A girl for sale is "Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old.... Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon."
The posting in Arabic appeared on an encrypted conversation along with ads for kittens, weapons and tactical gear. It was shared with The Associated Press by an activist with the minority Yazidi community, whose women and children are being held as sex slaves by the extremists."THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 6, 2016.

Canada's stolen daughters: Sex traffickers target indigenous Canadians
"Canada's indigenous population is very small -- just 4% of the population -- yet more than 50% of all sex trafficking victims in Canada are indigenous. The reasons are complicated and varied but are ultimately rooted in a legacy of poverty, racism and abuse. "www.cnn.com, August 23, 2016.

Mom sought men to sexually assault daughter, 10
"The mother of a 10-year-old girl found dead and dismembered in her New Mexico home told police that she sought men online to sexually assault her daughter.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Michelle Martens told police she had set up encounters with at least three men. The child's brutal death sparked vigils and outcry across New Mexico."Associated Press, September 14, 2016.

Brazilian cops rescue 8 kids from beach sex-trafficking ring
" RIO DE JANEIRO — Police say they have rescued eight minors who were being forced to work in a sex-trafficking ring at the beaches near the main Olympic hub.
The cops said three of the people were 15 or 16 years old, according to comments published Sunday. The teens had been forced to work as prostitutes at the beaches of the Recreio neighborhood."THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 11, 2016.

Myanmar human rights leaders resign over child abuse scandal
"Four members of Myanmar's human rights commission resigned Thursday, after the body was pilloried for failing to help two girls allegedly tortured for years at a tailor's shop.
The two teenagers said they spent five years as virtual slaves in the shop in the commercial capital Yangon, where they were beaten, stabbed, burnt and deprived of sleep and food."AFP, October 6, 2016.

Local girl caught up in human trafficking
"A Sawyer County teenage girl, who was persuaded by a 15-year-old boy to leave her home, eventually found herself in Green Bay, the victim of human trafficking, a modern form of slavery.
With the help of relatives and the Ashwaubenon Department of Public Safety, the girl was rescued and a case against her traffickers is being prosecuted in Brown County."APG WIS. NEWSWIRE, July 18, 2016.

Alleged Queens pimp beat, raped, and imprisoned 19-year-old woman, says prosecutor
"He told her she was "his property," kept her in the basement of his family's home in Queens, and beat and starved her when she didn't make $500 a night from prostitution, prosecutors said.
And when she called 911 in a desperate bid for freedom, he slammed a heavy skillet into her knee, and yanked her by the hair until she dropped the phone."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, February 11, 2016.

Iowa couple sentenced after kidnapping and torturing woman, forcing her to work as prostitute in RV
" An Iowa couple will spend at least 40 years in prison after luring a young woman into their RV and torturing her with bleach, nails and searing items while forcing her into prostitution.
Aldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, offered apologies to their 20-year-old victim Friday but got little, if any, sympathy from a judge who described her physical and psychological wounds as likely permanent."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, August 17, 2015.

Trafficking sting saves 149 exploited children
"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A nationwide sweep called Operation Cross Country IX recovered 149 sexually exploited children, the youngest of whom was 12, including one from the Jacksonville area, and led to the arrests of more than 150 pimps and other individuals.
The FBI partnered with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for the operation, which was conducted in 135 cities."www.news4jax.com, October 14, 2015.

Great moments in government: HHS handed children to human traffickers
"Rarely has "We're from the government and we're here to help" been less amusing or more outraging. In the wake of the massive rush of minors across the southern border, the Department of Health and Human Services placed many of them in homes in order to outsource their care. Thanks to a lack of vetting, though, a dozen or more ended up in modern slavery, handed over to known human traffickers. The New York Times' Emmarie Huetteman reports on a Senate investigation that ripped HHS for its incompetence:"hotair.com, January 29, 2016.

Missouri couple charged in federal court with running teen prostitution ring; one alleged victim was 12
" A Missouri couple has been charged in federal court with running a national teenage prostitution ring with at least five underage girls, including a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old who was lured off the streets with the promise of a modeling job, authorities said.
Marcus Dewayne Thompson, 28, and Robin Thompson, 24, forced the girls into prostitution with threats and beatings, according to a complaint filed in an East St. Louis court by the U.S. Attorney's Office."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, August 26, 2015.

The Underage Girls Of Mexico's Sex Trade: Hope Amid The Horror
"The report that ISIS is forcing girls as young as 12 to become sex slaves is part of a larger issue. In the world today, an estimated 2 million underage girls work in the sex trade.
A new study details the situation in Mexico, where researchers found that one in four sex workers in Tijuana and Juarez say they were forced into the sex trade as minors — under age 18 — and one in eight say they were 15 or younger."www.npr.org, August 18, 2015.

Senators Oppose Upgrade for Malaysia in Trafficking Report
"WASHINGTON — Eighteen U.S. senators are expressing deep concern that Malaysia could be lifted from a human trafficking blacklist.
A U.S. government official told The Associated Press last week that Malaysia will be upgraded from the lowest "tier 3" ranking it received in last year's State Department report on Trafficking in Persons."THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 15, 2015.

Mexico Arrests Suspect in Forced–Prostitution Ring
"The group was apparently centered in Tenancingo, an impoverished town in Tlaxcala state. The region has long been a notorious haven for pimps who use a combination of threats, abuse and broken promises of marriage and jobs to put women and girls, some only in their teens, on a path to sex slavery in Mexico City and in large cities in the United States."New York Times, April 30, 2015.

UN report: 2014 marked by extremists' use of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage
"UNITED NATIONS—Secretary-General Ban Ki–moon said 2014 was marked by harrowing accounts of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage being used by extremists including the Islamic State group and Boko Haram.
In a report released Monday, the U.N. chief expressed 'grave concern' over sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups, including those promoting extremist ideologies in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya and Yemen.
'The confluence of crises wrought by violent extremism has revealed a shocking trend of sexual violence employed as a tactic of terror by radical groups,' Ban said."Daily News, April 14, 2015.

Dad arranged marriage for daughter, 12, with older man to stop her from premarital sex: reports
"Fearing his daughter would soon become sexually active, he arranged a marriage with a then–26–year–old man, who had sex with his daughter four times at a hotel and the father's home, according to Sky News.
He believed his daughter was old enough to make decisions about marriage.
'It was stopping a sin,' the father, who is not identified because his underaged daughter is the victim of a sexual assault, told investigators. 'It was something I had to do'."Daily News, April 01, 2015.

Nepalese boys pay high price for marrying in childhood
"Nepalese law prohibits marriage before age 18 but the practice of marrying boys as early as 7 remains common in the poor, predominantly Hindu communities along the border with India. Aid workers are starting to document the physical and psychological strain on these boys' lives."Seattle Times, February 07, 2015.

Woman in Spain arrested for allegedly procuring wives for ISIS
"Spanish prosecutors confirmed the arrest of Francis Carolina Pena Orellana, 25, and six other people as part of a police investigation into those believed to be recruiting members for the Islamic State. According to Spanish Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernandez, police believe Orellana's main task was to convince the women to convert to Islam and make them marry or become girlfriends of ISIS fighters."Daily News, December 17, 2014.

Slave girl kept in cellar awarded £100,000 in court
"London (AFP) – A deaf and mute girl smuggled to Britain and kept as a slave for almost a decade must be paid £100,000 by her captors, a court ruled.
Trafficked from Pakistan as a 10–year–old girl, the victim was repeatedly raped by Ilyas Ashar, 85, who along with his wife Tallat, 69, forced her to work as their servant." AFP, October 16, 2014.

Former Korean 'comfort women' for U.S. troops sue own government
"The suit comes as an embarrassing distraction for the South Korean government, which has pushed Japan to properly atone for what it says were World War Two atrocities including forcing women, many of them Korean, to serve as sex slaves for its soldiers.
The women claim the South Korean government trained them and worked with pimps to run a sex trade through the 1960s and 1970s for U.S. troops, encouraged women to work as prostitutes and violated their human rights."Reuters Press, July 11, 2014.

Brides for Sale: Vietnamese Women Trafficked to China
"Lao Cai (Vietnam) (AFP)—Vulnerable women in countries close to China — not only Vietnam but also North Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar — are being forced into marriages in the land of the one–child policy, experts say.
China suffers from one of the worst gender imbalances in the world as families prefer male children." AFP, June 25, 2014.

U.S. Blacklists Thailand, Malaysia over trafficking
"WASHINGTON (AP) — Failure to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking has landed Thailand and Malaysia on a State Department blacklist, a move that could strain relations with two important U.S. partners in Asia.
The department, however, improved its rating of strategic rival China, citing Beijing's steps to abolish re–education–through–labor camps."The Associated Press, June 20, 2014.

Criminal gangs 'crippling children and forcing them to work as beggars'
"Most of the beggars were disabled children—many of them limbless or suffering from gruesome wounds—who had been stolen, abducted and even 'rented' from their hometowns and brought to Dongguan for this profitable 'business', Wang—who is himself physically disabled—was cited as saying.
'The more severely handicapped they are, the more valuable they are,' Wang said."South China Morning Post, March 20, 2014.

Traffickers set a daily target for child beggars
"BANGALORE: Nine–year–old Mamata (name changed) dreaded returning home without Rs 200 in her tiny pocket after begging all day on the streets of Bangalore. Her mother and her companion had set the child a daily target of Rs 200 every time she was sent out to the streets.
Such stories unfolded after Bangalore police and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) rescued over 300 children with help from NGOs in a day-long Operation Rakshana on December 2. The children had been pushed into begging."The Times of India: Bangalore, December 16, 2011.

Bangladesh arrest uncovers evidence of children forced into begging
"The arrest of a senior gang member in Bangladesh has revealed details of how criminals abduct and maim children before putting them to work as beggars.
The existence of such practices has been reported frequently throughout south Asia, and featured in the Oscar–winning film Slumdog Millionaire, set in India. But details and hard evidence have been rare.
The case in Bangladesh was uncovered by human rights campaigners and a local television company late last year. On 28 December authorities arrested a suspected member of a gang based in the Kamrangirchar area of the capital, Dhaka.The Guardian, January 9, 2011.